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All posts for the month October, 2013

Happy Halloween everybody. My intent, just like last year, is to sit this one out. It will just be a typical evening—whatever that means.

The apartment building I live in is a secured building, so I guess I won’t have any trick-or-treaters. I kind of miss passing out candy. I also miss taking my kids out to get it. With them both being all grown up now, I kind of doubt if they would be willing to go out with me. No, I didn’t ask, some things you just know.

One thing I don’t know is if they still play “The Monster Mash” on the radio around this time of year. They sure used to. I went to YouTube to see if I could find it. Of course I did and until now, I had no idea what Bobby Pickett looked like. I never thought about it. Sorry, Bobby.

Maybe tonight, I’ll have a few vodka and tonics and dance around my apartment while listening to “The Monster Mash.” Now that wouldn’t be typical.

Larry Gross is me and I’m thinking a cathedral is also considered a church. I’m not a religious person, so I don’t spend a lot of time thinking about the difference between the new. If someone gets all hung up on this, I’m sure they’ll let me know.

For almost a year now, I’ve been living right across the street from St. Mary’s Cathedral Basilica of the Assumption (a mouthful of words) here in Covington. I have a great view of this cathedral from my apartment window. I’ve received so many compliments on this that I’m thinking about subletting my apartment for $2,000 a month. I think I’m kidding. As I’ve said here before, I’m not religious, but I do appreciate good architecture.

I’ve never been inside St. Mary’s until last Saturday afternoon. Some friends and I had lunch over here in Covington, then did a little shopping and kind of at the last minute decided to go into the cathedral. I mean, I was almost home, so why not?

A guy who was sitting at a little desk before entering the cathedral was very nice and handed each of us a brochure with information on the cathedral. Looking around and reading from it, the stained glass, 82 windows in all, were made in 1910. It was hard to keep my eyes off it as well as the mosaic stations.

I know that St. Mary’s is regarded as one of the most beautiful cathedrals in the world, and seeing is believing. Beautiful is an understatement. It’s beyond that. It’s stunning, jaw-dropping—almost enough to make me want to believe. I still don’t, but I was impressed.

We took a few pictures, and my friend Jim took the one of me you’re looking at. We stayed for 20 minutes or so and then left.

So Larry Gross goes, or went, to church. I’m glad I did it, glad I know what it looks like now on the inside. We’re lucky to have St. Mary’s here in Downtown Covington.

Having said that, I’ll probably never go back inside. I’ve be waving from my apartment window as the believers go to church there on Sunday mornings.

I didn’t want to write about this until I was fairly certain I could continue on a healthier path for myself. I think I’m OK to say now that I haven’t had a real cigarette since September 22nd—the day after my daughter’s wedding. I’m now smoking an e-cigarette like the one you see in the photo.

My son turned me on to this. I didn’t know if I could make the switch or not, but apparently old dogs can be taught new tricks.

I wrote about this for Yahoo! Voices. You can click hereto read more about it.

I’m getting strange looks at the bus stops here in Covington, Kentucky smoking my e-cigarette. You all know how I am. That makes me like it even more.

The new Walgreens here in Covington opens up today, October 25th, and all of us here in the downtown area are pretty damn excited about it. Oh, that’s probably a stretch. It’ll just be something new replacing something old.

I didn’t go into the old location yesterday to say goodbye, seemed silly. Besides, with the staff transferring all the stuff to the new store, there wasn’t much in there. I found that out on Wednesday.

I went in to pick up some Diet Coke. Despite the store being almost empty of merchandise, the lady in front of me in line managed to find $50 worth of junk to purchase. She also asked the cashier to get her a pack of Camels. She put everything on a credit card that didn’t go through.

“Now I know I got $300 left on that card!” she told the cashier. She then told the clerk to remove some items, then try the card again. Once again, the card was declined.

The lady said it again. “I’ve got $300 left on that card!”

You probably know what happens by now. Ten minutes later, the lady was still fucking around with her credit card having items removed. For the very last transaction, the only item she had left was that pack of Camel Cigarettes. You probably know this too. That didn’t even go through. The lady left the store empty handed and the rest of us customers who were waiting in line pissed off.

So that was my last experience at the old Walgreens in Covington—probably more than fitting. Those cashiers have to put up with a lot of crap.

We’ll now have a new Walgreens up at 12th and Madison. I’ll probably wait a few days before going in to see like it’s like. Maybe some new customers will come in but after the dust settles, I think it will be mostly the regulars who will be shopping there. That lady with the bad credit card even may be the first one in fine.

I know some of you use the blogroll over to the right and I’m giving you a heads up that there’ a new blog listed over there.

Liz LaFarge is“The Tent Soloist.” She’s a camper who goes out alone for months at a time living in her tent. I guess I should mention that she’s 77-years-old, but it would be an interesting and well written blog even if she was younger. She’s done four entries so far and its fun reading.

I’m going to also mention that one of her daughters is Kate Christensen, the well known writer who also writes a blog. You’ll find her words over on the blogroll too. I guess writing talent runs in the family.

Ms. LaFarge’s seems to have a good time on her camping trips and I love her spirit. Am I a happy camper too? Not so much. I’ve got this joke about camping. To me, my idea of “roughing it” is to put up with a black & white television set.

A food critic for Deadspin (I think it’s an online magazine or something) really doesn’t like Cincinnati chili calling it “horrifying diarrhea sludge.” Alyssa Dailry over at WCPO got all worked up about the article. You can click here to get all worked up too.

I don’t consider Cincinnati chili diarrhea sludge, but I can take it or leave it. My kids, born and raised in Cincinnati, love the stuff. I’m not originally from here, so maybe that explains my view on this. Outsiders see it a little differently.

A friend visited me from Seattle a few years ago and she wanted to try some Cincinnati Chili. I think we went to Gold Star. She took a few bites of her cheese coney and threw it away. Couldn’t stand it. I think I may call her today and see if she thought it was diarrhea sludge.

Do you consider it that—diarrhea sludge? Is that food critic full of, eh, diarrhea? Do you love the chili here? Where do you eat yours?

Answer all the questions above or none at all. I’m just making conversation.